Ballast sled for use under railway tracks



Oct. 30, 1956 B. FRANCO 2,769,172

BALLAST SLED FOR USE UNDER RAILWAY TRACKS Filed Oct. 7, 1955 ,3 Sheets-Sheet l I N VENT OR lowly fillmzzw ATTORNEYS Oct. 30, 1956 L. B. FRANCO BALLAST SLED FOR USE UNDER RAILWAY TRACKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 7, 1955' ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 30, 1956 L. B. FRANCO ,1 2

BALLAST SLED FOR USE UNDER RAILWAY TRACKS Filed 001'.- 7, 1955 Z: Sheets-Sheet 5 BALLAST SLED FOR USE UNDER RAlLWAY TRACKS Louis B. Franco, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, assignor toMannix Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada Application October 7, 1955, Serial No. 539,253

7 Claims. (Cl. 104-7) This invention relates to a sled device for spreading and placing ballast on a railway roadbed. Devices of this type, sometimes known as under-track sleds or ballast sleds are inserted between the roadbed and the ties or sleepers to which the track rails are secured, and are then towed along the track in this position by a locomotive.

Such sleds may be used in the laying down of new tracks, or in the rehabilitation of already laid tracks. In the latter case, prior to the use of the sled, the ballast previously existing on the roadbed will have been removed, conveniently by a ballast plow of the type described in United States Patent application No. 460,798, filed October 7, 1954. After the plow has removed the fouled ballast, or, in the case of a newly laid track, after the track has been laid on the main foundation, fresh clean ballast is dumped onto the track on top of the ties and rails. The function of the sled is to raise the ties up to their desired level and to distribute evenly the ballast beneath such ties. Subsequently additional ballast will normally be dumped on the track between each pair of adjacent ties, this latter operation usually being carried out manually.

Although sled devices of this type have been proposed in the past, numerous disadvantages have become apparent in their operation, and the primary object of the invention is to provide improvements in thi respect. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sled which will considerably increase the speed at which railway tracks can be re-ballasted, or new tracks laid.

Difiiculties have also been experienced in towing ballast sleds satisfactorily, particularly when curves in the track have to be negotiated. A further object of the invention is to provide means aiding in centering of the ballast sleds during towing on non-straight portions of a track.

The various features of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the ballast sled illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a sled according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of Figure 1 substantially along the lines 33 thereof;

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the sled of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the sled;

Figure 6 is a view in transverse section taken on the line 66 of Figure 1;

Figure 7 is a schematic view of the sled in use showing the rear end of the towing means;

Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view of one end of the towing means; and

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic side view of the sled and towing means illustrating its practical operation.

There is provided a substantially rectangular sled 1 including a pair of side channel members 2 and a plurality of I-beams 3 extending parallel with channel members "Ice 2 from front to rear of the sled 1. The upper surface of the sled 1 is covered by a plate 4, said plate being apertured at 5 adjacent its rear edge 6 which is substantially V-shaped when viewed in plan.

The under-surface 7 of the sled is shown covered by a spreader plate 8 spanning the width of the sled and curving upwardly at 8 at the forward end of the sled, as best seen from Figure 2. This spreader plate covers substantially the front portion of the underside of the sled and terminates at a transverse girder member 9 shown in Figure 4. However, the undersides 10 of the channels 2 and the I-beams 3 at the rear of the sled 1 are provided with wear plates 11, these plates either being secured separately to such parts or being formed as continuations of the spreader plate 8. In practice it is found that the spreader plate 8 may, in many cases, be entirely omitted with advantage.

A centrally located beam 12 extends forwardly of the front edge 13 of the sled along the longitudinal axis 14 thereof, the upper surface 15 of the beam 12 curving forwardly and downwardly, as illustrated in Figure 2. This beam 12 is adapted to initiate the elevation of the ties and hence the rails during operation of the sled, as will hereinafter be described. Secondary beams 16 are situated upon either side of the main beam 12 and preferably form extensions of two of the I-bearns 3. The under-surfaces 17 of these beams curve forwardly and upwardly to meet the forwardly and downwardly curving upper surfaces 18, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, it being noted that these secondary beams 16 terminate to the rear of the leading portion of the main beam 12. It is preferred that the spacing apart of the secondary beams 16 be substantially equal to the conventional transverse distance between rails. The under-surfaces 17 of the secondary beams 16 can be continuations of the spreader plate 8, if one is employed, or can be separate wear plates as desired.

- The sled is provided with ballast levelling wings 19, each consisting of an elongated rectangular plate pivotally secured by hinges 20 to the rear edge 6, and suitable means are provided to adjust the angular relationship of these wings to the horizontal. In this embodiment, there have been shown means for independent adjustment of each of the wings 19, such means consisting of a screwthreaded rod 21 engaging an internally threaded block 22, which in turn is pivotally secured to the outer edge 23 of each of the wings 19. The rods 21 extend forwardly on each side of the sled and each rod passes freely through a further block 24 pivotally attached to a side of the sled as at 25, thrust collars 26 being secured to the rod 21 one on each side of the block 24. A squared end 27 permits each rod 21 to be rotated by means of a wrench for adjusting the angular relationship of each wing 19 as desired.

Adjacent the forward edge 13 of the sled and upstanding from the sides thereof is a pair of lugs 28 apertured at 29 to enable towing cables 30 to be secured thereto (Figures 7 and 9). These towing cables 30 extend for wardly to a towing means 31, taking the form of a railroad truck, which may be secured to a locomotive (not shown) supplying motive power to the unit. Only the rear end of the truck 31 is shown in the accompanying drawings. There will preferably be provided means to vary the transverse relationship of the points of attachment of the front ends of the cables 30 to the truck 31 and points of attachment of the rear ends thereof to the lugs 28, in order that the sled 1 may be maintained centrally beneath the track. It will be appreciated that this is particularly necessary when curved track is encountered. For this purpose there is a tube 32 secured to the truck 31 transversely at the rear 3 end thereof, this tube 32 having a further tube 33 (see Figure 8) slidably engageable the'rewithin, the ends 34 of tube 33 extending beyond the extremities of the fixed tube 32. The forward ends 35 of the cables 30 are se cured to the ends 34 of the tube- 33 by means of lugs 36 To traverse the tube 33 within the tube 32 there is provided an elongated slot 37 in one surface of the tube 33, through. whichslot extends a lug 38 projecting from. one end 39 of the tube 32. This lug 38 is adapted to engage a screw-threaded adjusting rod 40, which. extends through one end of the tube 33 andv terminates in a handle 41, thrust collars 42 being secured tothe rod 40 upon each side of an end wall 43 of the tube 33. Rotation of the handle 41 will change the longitudinal relationship between the tubes 32 and 33 and thus. the transverse relationship of the points of attachment of thecable 30.

Beforethe sled is brought into operation, the track 44- consisting of rails 45 and ties 46-, which has either just been laid' as a new track on a foundation 48 or has been subjected to a plowing operation to remove fouled ballast, as described in said other patent application, has dumped on it a large quantity of ballast 49. This ballast 49 is merely thrown onto the rails and ties, thus temporarily burying the latter. This condition is seen on the righthand side. of Figure 9. Initially the track 44 is jacked up manually to enable the positioning of the sled 1 beneath the ties. The truck 31 i arranged in advance of the sled 1, being connected thereto by means of the cable 30, and is drawn along the track by a locomotive, the operation illustrated in Figure 9 then taking place. During this operation the ties 46 will slide along smooth, semi-cylindrical runners 47 secured to the upper surface of the sled 1 immediately above the two outer beams 3 and the secondary beams 16 that form continuations thereof. The sled 1 rides up on the ballast 49 deposited on the foundation 48 and further elevates the track 44. As the Wings 19 of the sled 1 pass over the ballast 49 they spread and level it as required, the track 44 being allowed to settle again onto the ballast 49' behind the sled 1. where it takes up a position with: the ties 46 resting on top of the smoothed ballast 49. Finally further ballast (not shown) will be placed by hand between the ties 46.

The apertures formed in the plate 4 served to allow any ballast that may ride up over the leading edges of the sled to pass downwardly again and beneath the wings 19. Some such ballast is shown at 50, and reference may be made to the said application Serial No. 460,798 for a fuller description of the operation of apertures of this character.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application No. 380,429 filedSeptember 16, 1953.

I claim:

1. A sled device for spreading and placing ballastund'er railway tracks andties, comprising a generally flat framework adapted to be drawn along between-the-road bed and the ties while supporting the weight of said ties and a span of track, said framework comprising a sheet and 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein holes are formed in said sheet to allow ballast to pass there through.

3. A device as claimed in claim- 1, including a pair of raised strips extending from front to rear along the upper surface of said sheet.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, including forwardly projecting means for initiating elevation of said ties and hence said rails.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, including means for adjusting the position of said ballast levelling wing means to vary the extent to which such wing means extend downwardly from said sheet.

6. In combination, a sled device for spreading and lacing ballast under railway tracks and ties comprising a generally flat framework adapted to be drawn along between the road bed and the ties while supporting the weight of said ties and a span of track, towing means arranged on said track in advance of said sled device, cables extending between a pair of transversely spaced points of said sled device and a pair of transversely spaced points on the towing means, and means for varying the transverse relationship of the points of attachment of the cables to the towing means in relation to said towing means. i

7. A device according to claim 6 in which said means to adjust the transverse relationship comprises a tube secured to the rear end ofsaid towing means and spanning same transversely, a further tube extending through said first-mentioned tube and adapted to slide therein, the extremities of said last-mentioned tube extending beyond the extremities of said first-mentioned tube, said cable means being secured to the extremities of said last-' mentioned tube, and means co-operatingbetween said tubes to adjust the relative transverse position of one with the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 966,613 Sparks Aug. 9, 1910 1,083,302 Sparks Jan. 6, 1914 1 ,313,353 Tobin s Aug. 19, 1919 1,338,681 Dobson May 4, 1920 1,851,064 Reifschne'ider Mar. 29,1932 1,929,617 Walbridge Oct. 10, 1933 2,571 ,183 Banton -t Oct. 16, 1951' 2,725,016 Fogelberg et al. Nov. 29, 1955 

